A new report from the cross-party Women and Equalities Select Committee has called for urgent changes to the “outdated” 2004 Gender Recognition Act. The 17-year-old act includes a series of requirements that are argued to be overly intrusive, costly, and bureaucratic by trans people.
As it stands, trans people wishing to legally change their gender are required to provide two medical diagnoses of gender dysphoria, as well as providing evidence that they have lived in their acquired gender full-time for two years. These criteria remain despite a two-year government consultation from 2018-2020, in which 64% of respondents said that there should be no diagnosis requirement as being trans is not a medical issue. Though the consultation indicated significant support for changes to the legislation, the Government opted instead for reducing the cost of applying for a gender recognition certificate from £140 to £5, a gesture described as “tokenistic” by the Select Committee.
In response to the current situation, the Committee’s report has recommended that the Government move closer to a system of ‘self-declaration,’ wherein medical scrutiny is replaced by strong legal safeguards. Their proposals include the immediate removal of the requirement that people should have to provide proof of having lived in their acquired gender for two years, often via the provision of passports or bills with their acquired gender on them. The committee argued in their report that this requirement encourages the entrenchment of outdated gender stereotypes, with trans individuals feeling that they must act in ways traditionally considered ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine.’
Further to this, the Committee argue that by 2023 the Government should scrap the need for gender dysphoria diagnosis, to respect the results of its own consultation. Chair of the Select Committee, Caroline Nokes MP commented that “being trans is not an illness. It is imperative that the Government de-medicalise the process of gender recognition by removing the outdated requirement for a gender dysphoria diagnosis.” The Committee also recommended the immediate abolition of the ‘spousal veto,’ a mechanism by which unsupportive spouses can indefinitely block the recognition of their acquired gender.
The report comes amid concern that Liz Truss, the Minister for the Government Equalities Office has abandoned the Government’s LGBT Action Plan, which included recommendations to address a range of LGBT issues across healthcare, education, and housing. With Truss recently taking over the Brexit brief as well, her attention at the Equalities Office is likely to be stretched ever thinner.
In 2015, the Women and Equalities Committee published their Trans report calling for similar changes to the Gender Recognition Act, “In place of the present medicalised, quasi-judicial application process, an administrative process must be developed, centred on the wishes of the individual applicant, rather than on intensive analysis by doctors and lawyers.” Commenting on the new report from the Select Committee, former Women and Equalities Select Committee Member and LGBT+ Commission Chair, Ben Howlett said “the trans community has been calling for changes to the Gender Recognition Act for years. The harrowing stories that we heard in 2015 are unfortunately still being told today. Despite promises to reform, the Government has dithered over making a decision for far too long. The overly medicalised, quasi-judicial and bureaucratic process still runs contrary to the dignity of all those trans people let down by the system.”
In the longer-term, the Committee also indicated that the Government should urgent clarify the supposed ‘barriers’ preventing the legal recognition of a non-binary gender category, and that there should be legislation on the issue by 2024. However, the report stops short of lowering the age at which people can change their assigned gender below 18, as some activists have campaigned for.
In response to the findings of the report, a government spokesperson insisted that “the current provisions in the Gender Recognition Act are effective and allow for those who wish to legally change their gender to do so.” However, as a debate that has often become toxic, and caught up in wider culture wars, it is hard to conclude that this will be the end of the matter.
